Looking for the Best Video Camera Cell Phone?
Whether you want to consolidate your devices or save some cash, you might be considering a video camera cell phone; one that has a good digital camera built-in that can also record video that's respectable. For some people, it's just a matter of convenience. Their cell phone is always at their side, so catching the footage they want is simple when they don't have to plan to take a camcorder along. Of course the ease of uploading their creations is another great reason to want this type of device. Our top picks our first and some worthy of considering are towards the bottom.With more and more cell phones housing a digital camera, and more of those having camcorder capabilities there are an increasing number of options. We'll show you some of the best among them.
Can a Video Camera Cell Phone Replace a Camcorder?
Cell phones with video camera or camcorder functions have continued to improve, however they don't generally compete well with a standalone camcorder. They are best for casual use or for those who want only one device. Here are a few things to consider about the differences.Most video camera cell phones offer an inferior video light as compared to those found on camcorders. For this reason their performance in low light situations tends to be less satisfactory. Camera phones that offer a Xenon flash tend to perform better than those with an LED flash.
Many camcorders offer optical image stabilization to reduce the shake or jitter that occurs when filming. Most camera phones don't have such a sophisticated system for assuring a steadier film. Some of these phones do have digital stabilization making them a reasonable choice.
Most camera phones will offer a smaller sensor, or fewer of them, and slower frame rate than stand alone camcorders in many instances. When choosing a good video camera cell phone, higher resolution and faster frame rates are preferred. For instance, 720 x 480 resolution is superior to 320 x 240 and 30 fps will create a smoother look than 15 fps.
Most stand alone camcorders will allow you to record for an hour or far longer. Many camera phones provide recording of only short clips. If you're selecting a phone for it's video recording abilities you probably want to select one that will accommodate at least 2 GB of storage for video to allow you to shoot longer footage.
The lens on a camera phone seldom matches the quality of that on a camcorder or digital camera. Certainly names like Carl Zeiss and others can represent better than average lens quality.
Until recently, few cell phones with camcorder functions offered any significant degree of user control to improve video quality or allow for creativity. Now however, more control is emerging in the phones that tout their videography. Control of focus, white balance/exposure, ISO, zoom, and so forth are becoming more common.
Even for many compact camcorders, sound is not often the best quality. However, stereo sound and the ability to get a higher quality external microphone can often achieve much better audio results. A video camera cell phone, at least at this point, doesn't usually offer such options.
With all this said, there are still reasons why using a cell phone for filming can be a good idea for some users. If your needs are just casual, then toting around a separate device may not be worth the effort or the expense. Sometimes the important thing is to have your video camera on hand at the right moment!
LG Dare VX9700
LG Dare VX9700 Phone, Silver (Verizon Wireless)
Amazon Price: $149.99 (as of 11/28/2009)
The LG Dare offered by Verizon Wireless is more than a communication device. It's a video camera cell phone as well. This smart phone has a 3" touchscreen with handwriting recognition and an on screen QWERTY keyboard that provides tactile feedback for ease of use.
This phone has a built-in 3.2 megapixel camera/camcorder and boasts a Schneider-Kreuznach lens for great looking images. Unlike many camera phones, this one offers features such as face detection, built-in flash, a self-timer, and in-phone photo editing functions that allow you to crop, zoom, rotate, or add frames and writing to your images. It also allows users to select from one of 4 ISO settings to get better images no matter what the lighting situation may be. In addition, it gives you 6 preset scene modes, the ability to adjust white balance, and add color effects. It's other photographic skills include a multi-shot mode as well as panoramic and split shot capabilities.
Video capture is supported by the expandable memory which tops out at 8GB. Resolution can be 640x480 pixels. Frame rate can be 120 frames per second for a smoother look but it can also be played back in slow motion at a rate of 15fps.
This phone is also a digital audio player that supports MP3, WMA, and AAC/AAC+ formats. In addition, it's compatible with VCast Music and Rhapsody Music.
The Dare also offers a calculator, calendar, alarm clock, stopwatch, world clock, notebook, notepad and drawing pad, speakerphone, and voice recording functions. Users also get mobile e-mail, HTML web browsing, multimedia messaging, and Bluetooth compatibility with other devices.
LG Dare Review
LG Dare CNET video review
CNET does a video review of the LG Dare from Verizon Wireless *this is not my video, it is CNET.com's video and I had nothing to do with it. #18 - Most Discussed (This Week) - Science & Technology #92 - Most Responded (Today) - Science & Technology #45 - Most Viewed (This Week) - Science & Technology - India #8 - Most Viewed (This Week) - Science & Technology #90 - Most Viewed (This Week) - Science & Technology - Mexico #8 - Most Viewed (This Week) - Science & Technology - South Korea #19 - Top Favorites (This Week) - Science & Technology #60 - Top Rated (This Week) - Science & Technology
Runtime: 203
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curated content from YouTube
Samsung Memoir
The Samsung Memoir from T-Mobile is a very respectable video camera cell phone. It's internationally compatible and gives users 3G data speeds, Bluetooth technology and built-in GPS. It has a nice 1.6" screen and provides multimedia, text, and instant messaging as well as POP3 e-mail support and full HTML web browsing with Web2Go. Users also get speakerphone, to-do list, voice memo, alarm, and calculator functions along with voice activated dialing with this phone.The Memoir includes a media player that supports MP3, AAC/AAC+, MPEG4, WAV, and MIDI files.
The camera on this device provides an 8 megapixel sensor, Xenon flash, auto focus, 16x digital zoom, various shutter modes, and in-device editing tools. Users can easily upload their creations to sites like Flickr, the Kodak Gallery, Snapfish, and PhotoBucket. To assure the best photos you even get smile and blink detection technologies and 12 preset scene options. Pictures can even be geo-tagged with their location.
The camcorder function gives you 720 x 480 resolution at 30 fps or 320 x 240 resolution at 120 fps for smooth looking video. The expandable memory can go up to 16GB with a microSD memory card allowing you to shoot up to an hour of footage.
Samsung Memoir Review
Samsung Memoir T929 8MP Cameraphone (T-Mobile) - Full Review
In a nutshell, Memoir is the best cameraphone currently available in America, but it's neither as good as a stand-alone camera or a high-end smartphone. WIN PHONES! Play now @ http://www.phonedog.com/sweepstakes/default.aspx
Runtime: 964
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Nokia N96
Nokia N96 16 GB Unlocked Phone with 5 MP Camera, 3G, GPS, Media Player, and Micro SD Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty (Black)
Amazon Price: $462.94 (as of 11/28/2009)
This Nokia N96 is a dual slide, unlocked, quadband GSM phone. It offers WiFi connectivity, multimedia messaging, web browsing, GPS, and document viewing. It also features a digital music player that's compatible with MP3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, and WMA file formats. It has a 3.5mm head phone jack and built-in 3D stereo speakers for great listening. The N96 has a bright 2.8" screen with 240x320 resolution that's nice for 3D gaming and video viewing. With it's internal accelerometer, it's always easy to view no matter which way you're holding the device.
The N96 is also a great video camera cell phone. It offers a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens, auto focus, digital zoom, self-timer, various scene, white balance, and exposure compensation settings for getting pictures right. Of course low light situations are always the most difficult for tiny cell phone cameras; the N96 offers a video light and dual LED flash to help out. You can even geo tag your images using the camera's GPS feature as well as enjoy your creations on TV using the TV out jack. You can also capture great looking video with 640 x 480 resolution at 30 frames per second. The video camera even has digital video stabilization to create a film with less jitter.
This phone even has the memory to support all of the recording you hope to do. It comes wiht 16GB of internal memory which can be expanded an additional 8GB with micro SDHC cards to allow you to store up to 40 hours of high quality video.
Nokia N96 Review
Nokia N82
Nokia N82 Unlocked Phone with 5 MP Camera, 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, MP3/Video Player, and MicroSD Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty (Black)
Amazon Price: (as of 11/28/2009)
This unlocked N82 is a GSM, quadband phone with WiFi and built-in GPS. It features a 2.4" display and gives users e-mail and full HTML web browsing capability as well as text and MMS messaging. Users can also view MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF documents.
You get Bluetooth stereo music with a 3.5mm stereo headphone jack and FM radio function. More importantly however, this device is also a great video camera cell phone. It offers a 5 megapixel sensor, Xenon flash, Carl Zeiss lens, autofocus, 20x digital zoom, and video capture abilities. Video recording is done with 640x480 resolution at 30fps. This phone also offers the memory needed to record a large amount of video with the ability to accept an SDHC card up to 8GB. It's even easy to enjoy your creations on TV using the TV out jack.
Nokia N82 Review
LG Viewty
Lg Ku990r Viewty White Triband 3g Hsdpa Touch Screen Unlocked Phone
Amazon Price: $229.43 (as of 11/28/2009)
The LG Viewty is a GSM phone with a music player, FM radio and Bluetooth connectivity. It's a touch screen phone that offers a full QWERTY "virtual" keyboard and hand writing recognition. It also features a voice recorder and gives users access to e-mail, messaging, and a full HTML browser.
The highlight of this phone however is it's camera, and even more so, it's camcorder function. This video camera cell phone offers a 5.1 megapixel sensor, Xenon flash, and timer. It gives users numerous image size and quality choices, white balance, ISO and focus control, as well as numerous shooting modes including macro.
Users can also capture video with 640 x 480 resolution at 30 frames per second or, to capture motion better, at 120 fps. The Viewty will then let you play your video back in slow motion at 15 fps. Users also get a host of in-device editing tools and can record sound or allow you to add sounds/music after the fact. You can also add text overlay. The Viewty allows you to expand memory to accomodate longer video with a SD card slot that accepts memory cards up to 2 GB.
The LG Renoir
LG Viewty Review
Shiny Video Review: Hands on with the LG KU990 Viewty
Alex gets a chance to put the LG Viewty through its paces, taking a close how-to style look at the camera and video editing features. For more videos see www.shinyshiny.tv and www.techdigest.tv
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Blackberry Storm 9530
The Blackberry Storm 9530 is a 3.2" touchscreen phone with a virtual QWERTY keyboard and an accelerometer that will switch the view to either portrait or landscape automatically depending upon which way your're holding the device. It's a dual mode phone that offers international compatibility, GPS, and Bluetooth Wireless technology. It gives users voice driven menus, full HTML web browsing abilities, e-mail support, as well as multimedia, text, and instant messaging abilities. This phone also features speakerphone, voice activated dialing, to-do list, voice memo, alarm, calculator, and calendar functions.The Storm also includes a media player that supports MP3, WMA, WMA ProPlus, AAC and AAC+ file formats. It's also a great video camera cell phone. It possesses a 3.2 megapixel sensor, face recognition technology, a built-in LED flash, in-device, editing tools, 2x digital zoom/image stabilization, autofocus, and the ability to adjust white balance and add color effects. Video capture can be done at 30 or 120fps and resolution is 480 x 320. This camera phone allows you to use a video light to improve results in lower light situations. The large memory (1GB) with the option to expand with up to a 16GB memory card allows you to record a large amount of video.
Samsung Omnia
Another good video camera cell phone is Samsung's Omnia. It's built-in 5 megapixel camera has autofocus, an LED flash, face and smile detection, 15 shooting modes, and adjustable white balance, ISO, and more. It also gives the user the choice of three image sizes and quality settings. You can even create slide shows and panoramic shots. Photos can also be geotagged.The camera can record video with 640x480 resolution at 15fps (MPEG4 format). Slow motion video capture and video editing are also offered. Uploading is simple and there's plenty of memory for your capture. It has 8GB (or 16GB) internal memory and can be expanded to 24GB.
The Omnia offers a 3.2" touchscreen and full HTML browser. Users can view Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF documents. Other functions include e-mail support, speakerphone, conference calling, SMS, instant, and multimedia messaging, phonebook, and media player. The player supports MP3, WMA, AAC, eAAC+, MP4 and a variety of other file formats. This phone has Bluetooth and GPS and is considered a "world" or quad band phone.
Samsung Omnia Review
Samsung Flipshot
The Samsung Flipshot offers a pretty nice video camera for a cell phone. It's got a built in 3 megapixel camera with digital zoom. It gives users the option of 3 quality settings, 3 white balance settings, and 3 color effects as well as spot metering, ISO adjustment, auto focus, flash, 3 shot multi-shot capability, a self timer, brightness control and settings for portrait, landscape, macro (close-up) and night shots.The Flipshot can record up to 10 minutes of 320x240 video with sound. The video camera also has three quality settings, a self timer, color effects, as well as adjustable white balance and brightness.
As you might suspect, this is a flip phone with a swivel 2.25" color display which can rotate 180 degrees. Other phone features include a 500 name phonebook, voice commands, e-mail support, text and multimedia messaging capabilities, voice recorder, speakerphone, alarm clock, stop watch, and world clock functions. This phone has Bluetooth, GPS, and a built in MP3 player which supports WMA and MP3 files.
Samsung Flipshot Review
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Reply
- susannaduffy susannaduffy Oct 12, 2009 @ 6:53 am
- Another brilliant lens! Blessed by an Angel today (squidoo.com/october-blessings)
by mulberry
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